April 1st was a rest day. I had a trip to Petra scheduled for the 2nd so it only made sense to rest and recover from my activities in Egypt. I was just tired and my leg was in need of a break from activity. This is something which I will simply have to accept: I’m not as mobile on this trip as I’d hoped to be when I planned it. I will just have to pay attention to my limits and make choices.

My calendar had a note for me to try to contact the touring company, Renaissance Viaggi, about my hotel pick up since I had not heard anything from them since their acknowledgement of the booking in August last year. I tried emailing them in the morning, but I’d received no answer by mid-afternoon. I could not message them via the Expedia app since that tour did not show up as an option. I did have some pick up instructions from an old acknowledgement email but I wanted confirmation that I needed to be awake and ready to go by 7 am on the 2nd. Most of my day on the 1st was taken up with trying to find some contact for the tour company and getting a little bit caught up with writing. I’d scheduled a FaceTime call with my sister and brother-in-law for after dinner (after lunch for them) since I thought using the hotel wifi to stay in touch would be a good move. Dinner in the hotel Italian restaurant came with my hotel booking; they served me from a limited but delicious menu – I had the sea bass and wine with a dessert I should not have eaten – and all I had to do was to pay for my Negroni-like cocktail – apparently the sweet vermouth shortage extends into Jordan. I went back to my room and tried texting and calling via WhatsApp to contact the touring company in the evening. Still no answer. By this time I had serious doubts about whether I’d be picked up; still, I thought that it could be a cultural thing. I had a very enjoyable FaceTime call for about an hour and then went to bed because I was assuming that I would have to be up and ready by 7 am for the Petra tour.

Well, I was awake and ready to go by 6:30 am. No one showed up. I had the hotel front desk call the number I had for Renaissance Viaggi from the Expedia site; no answer. The front desk suggested that I call Expedia so I returned to my room and did just that. Turns out that the tour I booked does not pick up from the Grand Hyatt Amman – I could see that thru the Viator site but I do not remember seeing that note via the Expedia site. Of course, it is also true that the company had my contact info and expected pick up point for months yet they never contacted me about the issue. I asked for a refund via Expedia since though I may have been partially at fault when I made the booking, the company should have contacted me or at least been available to answer their phone. I booked another more expensive tour for the 3rd and the driver responded with pick up instructions within an hour. I’m in Jordan and whether I get the refund or not, I’m going to see Petra.